Jah Prayzah and Ammara accept Zima Award
Showbiz Reporter
PREPARATIONS for this QA Zimbabwe Music Awards are well underway with organisers securing a potential sponsor who will assist them in the organisation of the awards ceremony.
Indications are that the ceremony, now in its eighth edition, will be held in October. The organisers are now finalising logistics with the sponsor whom they are keeping under wraps.
Sources close to the developments, however, say Net One will be playing a big role as part of efforts to support the national event.
The Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry has also shown interest and will also be supporting the event meant to acknowledge and honour musical excellence and creativity.
Zima spokesperson Farai Chapoterera said:
“We’ve a series of meetings where we’re reviewing last year’s ceremony which we held last week, looking at areas we need to improve on.
“We’re also discussing with our new sponsor on how best to host this year’s event as we want it to be a success with few/no glitches. Once we agree, we’ll reveal the dates. We’ll likely call for entries at the beginning of July and close on the first week of August. The nominees will be announced on the first week of September, but all this will be finalised once we agree with the sponsor.”
Artistes intending to submit their content for the awards may as well start compiling their works from August last year. Music released before that period will not be considered. Those who will release from now up to August this year will be considered.
But, just like the Channel O Music Video Awards, winners will likely walk away with trophies alone as there are no plans to give them monetary prizes.
Organisers are still contemplating whether to host the event at the Harare International Conference Centre, which proved difficult for them to fill last week, or look for an alternative much more intimate venue.
To avoid last year’s fracas on the Lifetime Achievement Award, organisers will this time involve the public by conducting an online poll to come up with the artiste whom they feel deserves the award.
On artistes who will be given a platform to perform on the night of the awards, Chapoterera said they would probably reserve that privilege for those who are nominated.
“Usually we encourage nominated artistes to perform on the night of the event but we’ve had challenges with some who say they prefer to be guests on the night.
“We’ll see how things will shape up,” Chapoterera said. But the hosting of last year’s ceremony this month has caused confusion as some music followers are convinced they were 2016 awards. Organisers will have to vigorously market this year’s event in order to have a better attendance.
It is highly likely that the nominees list will once again be dominated by Winky D, Jah Prayzah and Killer T among others.